The 30 Best Job Sites For IT Professionals

Great IT job sites are helpful, and even more so if you know the formula for getting the most from them.

Using IT job sites to their best advantage requires more than trolling through them for attractive openings.

Sure, you can continuously scan the big IT job mega-portals, like CareerBuilder IT Jobs, Monster.com IT Jobs and Yahoo Tech Jobs. Another popular option is Indeed’s Computer/Internet Jobs, an aggregator of listings from other sites.

But to get the most from these IT job sites you need a formula to guide your search. One such formula goes like this: 2 general purpose sites + 3 niche sites. That is, use a total of five sites, combining two mega-portals like Monster IT and three niche sites like Java Jobs and SAP Jobs.

This formula was created by Peter Weddle, editor of the famed Guide to Employment Web Sites. Its goal is to cover the entire IT job market without requiring you to scan every site.

Key point: After you pick your five sites, it’s a good idea to use the automatic notification tools these sites offer, the daily or weekly emails. Also, keep in mind these Tips on Getting a Better IT Job.

IT Job Sites

IT Manager Jobs

Hosted by Salary.com, IT Manager Jobs ranges from Application Development to Database to the always-needed Project Manager. Note: Salary.com is worth searching for virtually any IT job.

Dice

Arguably the best known and most popular of the IT-centric job boards. Its listings have fallen dramatically in 2009, yet at last count it still posted some 55,000 IT jobs.

JustTechJobs

Covering a broad range of IT professionals, it offers a plethora of sub sites like JustJavaJobs, JustSAPJobs, JustWebJobs and JustNetworkingJobs.

DevBistro

Focusing on programming and Web development, along with fresh listings for SEO, software architect, Q/A testing and others.

Graduating Engineer

Sure, it’s not reasonable to think the highest paid jobs are here, but this is an interesting and needed IT job niche site. For fresh grads, it offers a list of starting salaries (churned out by Salary.com), along with job interview tips.

Craigslist: Search by City or State

The sprawling Craigslist grows bigger by the day. The site requires you to drill down by city or state. The upside of Craigslist is its size, with many employers using it. The downside is that some employers complain that they get a slew of unqualified applicants from this mega site. Still, it’s considered a good place to hunt for an IT job.

37Signals Job Board

This site provides IT job listings from plenty of other sites. It offers programming and design jobs, as well as a cornucopia of other tech jobs, from project manager to digital user analyst.

JavaJobs.net

Java DB, Java Studio, Java ME – a full menu of jobs requiring skill in this most popular programming language.

Java Job Network

If your Java pro, post your resume or scan the full range of Java jobs.

Oracle Jobs

Oracle skills: database architects, consultants, designers. (Sure, Oracle itself just suffered a round of layoffs, but that doesn’t mean Oracle skills are highly marketable.)

The Ladders: Technology Jobs

Lists jobs that pay $100k or more a year, many of which are IT jobs. (In fact, after management jobs, the largest category at the site is technology jobs.)

PHP-Freelancers

Check out the prices bid for freelance PHP coding. Are you getting the going rate?

Google Job Search

Not an IT job site but a directory of job sites, you can filter the job sites by category. Also helpful: the directory offers lists of resume advice and job recruiters.

The Rx for IT Professionals

Vendors providing healthcare IT products, along with hospitals and healthcare organizations and practices, are looking to hire IT professionals.

With an Obama administration promise to stimulate the healthcare IT market to the tune of $19 billion, you might expect a windfall of career opportunities to follow. And you’d be right.

According to Christine Chang, analyst of healthcare technologies at Datamonitor, a business intelligence firm located in New York, almost all vendors providing healthcare IT products as well as hospitals, healthcare organizations and healthcare practices will be looking to hire IT professionals.

“Electronic health records (EHR) is the main focus of the Obama stimulus for healthcare IT, but there are so many technology pieces to add onto that,” she says, noting that there will be a strong call for IT professionals who can provide systems integration.

EHR systems will penetrate the hospital market as well as the physician’s office. “There are currently hundreds of companies vying for market share, some are start-ups; others are more established players in the healthcare IT market,” says Chang.

Back in April 2008, Dr. William Hersh, professor and chairman of the Department of Medical Informatics at Oregon Health and Science University and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), reported on Capital Hill that the nation’s healthcare system was in need of an additional 40,000 IT employees.

CEJKA Search Inc., a healthcare executive search firm, St. Louis, Mo., surveyed 75 CIOs in December 2008 and found that 60% hired someone in the clinical information technology area in 2008 and 57% expect hiring to continue in 2009.

“Of those jobs, 53% will be clinical informatics, 25% will be project management leaders and about 14% in the ambulatory systems area to connect medical practices to hospitals or healthcare facilities,” says Bonnie Siegel, vice president of the healthcare IT practice at CEJKA.

The biggest demand will be for the implementation of EHR and Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) systems, she says.

According to Chang, the healthcare IT industry was in a growth mode prior to the recent billion-dollar infusion that targets computerizing medical health records and expects the demand to be that much greater with healthcare organizations pressed to implement computerized systems.

Fitting in

How to get a foot in the door to IT career opportunities in the healthcare sector? Be healthcare savvy. IT professionals with medical degrees or previous experience in the industry will rise to the top, according to industry experts.

C-level positions likely will require physician credentials.

“In the area of medical informatics, for example, healthcare organizations will be looking to hire physician champions who can manage the IT, executive, MD relationship,” says Siegel.

Medical informatics also includes a segment for nursing informatics. IT professionals with prior nursing credentials or experience may want to add those skills to their resume.

IT professionals looking to acquire knowledge about the healthcare industry may want to consider gaining that knowledge by working for a IT consulting company or solution provider organization with a healthcare practice.

Change suggests that vendors in the healthcare sector will be looking for IT professionals for product development or to join their sales teams.

IT security specialists, particularly those holding the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) credential from ISACA or the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) designation from (ISC)2 will be in demand, according to Seigel.

“Five percent of healthcare CIOs report that they’ll be hiring security leaders because of EMR,” she adds.

On the tech side, the healthcare industry also will be looking for individuals with experience in wiring, networking and infrastructure. Individuals with strong technical skills may find opportunity as a CTO or technical director.

Whichever door you walk through, a combination of technical skills and good communication skills will be required for both hiring and promotions.

“The job candidate must be engaging, personable and be able to talk on all levels; be familiar with clinical terminology and communicate with healthcare executives,” says Siegel.

Given the scope of the upcoming opportunity in healthcare IT, Change says it’s never too late to get started.

Managing Your Boss: Your Biggest Job

Much attention is paid in IT these days to processes, with Operations Management, Change Management, and a raft of Something Managements. Perhaps the most important thing to manage is seldom mentioned: your boss.

Managing your manager is as important an activity as the function you are employed for, or managing your personal finances or your household. It should receive the same thought and effort.

Without Management Management, you have no control over the most important influence on your career; your boss. They write your reviews, set your pay, assign you work, decide your moves and leave. Without Management Management you are at the whim of that person. Think about that. It is seldom an attractive prospect (and you are very lucky if it is attractive).

The process of Management Management involves three strategic goals: look after yourself, look after your boss, and look after the organisation.

Look after yourself

In my work, I found many who had no awareness of their own situation and no plan or actions to protect and develop their career. Work is work: your first priority is to yourself and your family or other dependents. There has been any number of books and articles about putting yourself first, about work/life balance, about working to live not living to work. This is not the place to re-visit all that, but in the context of Management Management the main reasons we manage our manager are to protect that work/life balance and to nurture our career.

In order to look after yourself, the first step is to understand your boss: their KPIs (what is it they are measured on and answerable for?), what drives them (why do they come to work?), what turns them on (in a work context, of course). Also understand the context within which they operate: what the business is doing, what it wants, where they fit, what threats there are to you and to them. Develop some "corporate situational awareness":

What are the strategies of your organisation, both the official ones and the real ones what changes are coming, or are likely to be coming who is really in power, locally and at the top who are in the inner circles Second step is to make sure you are seen - don’t hide your light.

Technical people are appallingly bad at this, at least in the cultures I know. Don’t expect the formal processes to automatically generate recognition for you. Don’t expect your boss to do research to learn how clever and useful (and profitable) you are. When you do something good, tell someone. Tell everyone. Practice doing this humbly, discretely, but practice making sure people know. Especially your boss.

Third step is to let your boss know what you need. Don’t expect them to guess or find out (or care). If you can frame a deal, all the better: find a win-win, something in it for you and your boss. If you need something and there is no quid pro quo for your boss or the organisation, it will hardly be a high priority. Make it explicit (don’t leave things implied, don’t be circumspect) and remind them occasionally (without being annoying).

Once you have practices in place to be aware of your environment – especially your boss, to make others aware of you, and to communicate your needs to your boss, then you are ready to work toward the second goal…

Look after your boss

Give them what they want. You might have your own ideas about what is important and what the priorities should be, but consider who is paying you and what they are paying you for. If they are paying you to set the priorities then you probably don’t need this article. If setting priorities is in your job description, good for you. If it isn’t, better you work to your boss’s priorities not yours.

When it comes to review time and pay-setting time and promotion time, the person who gave most to the boss will be the one at the front of your boss’s mind. There are three ways to deliver to them: help deliver their KPIs, take away (or prevent) some pain, or make them look good.

If you have worked on the first goal well, you will know what your boss needs to deliver to their boss. If their number one KPI is to get a certain project in by end of year, or to cut costs by 10%, and you serve that up to them, it will never be forgotten.

A related deliverable is to realise what bugs them and make it better. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is just as good as delivering on a KPI – it isn’t. But pulling a thorn will win points.

The Obama Effect: New Job Trends to Watch in 2009

fastest-growing career site, predicts the top Obama-inspired new job trends to watch in 2009. The list includes the job sectors and key professions that are most likely to grow as a result of President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus policies.

The Obama administration has said it will "hit the ground running" with what experts project to be a $700 billion job stimulus package. The new administration's goals are to create or save 2.5 million jobs over the next two years.

According to Jobfox, the most wanted new jobs, listed by major Obama initiatives, will include:

Initiative: Construction of Roads, Bridges, Transit and Rural Broadband

Key Jobs:

1. Construction managers
2. Project managers
3. Civil engineers
4. Computer-aided drafting specialists
5. Telecommunications engineers

Initiative: Greater Oversight of Financial Markets

Key Jobs:

1. Compliance accountants
2. Internal auditors
3. Tax accountants
4. Government regulators

Initiative: Energy Independence

Key Jobs:

1. Electrical engineers
2. Mechanical engineers
3. Power grid managers
4. Biofuels chemists
5. Sales and marketing

Initiative: Healthcare Modernization

Key Jobs:

1. Nurses
2. Information technology specialists
3. Bioinformatics specialists
4. Information security specialists
5. Software developers

Initiative: Volunteerism and Community Involvement

Key Jobs:

1. Social workers
2. Administrators
3. Translators

"Epic changes are ahead throughout the professional landscape," said Rob McGovern, CEO of Jobfox. "It's just like 1991, when we didn't know the Internet was coming. New job titles will emerge, many of which haven't been invented yet. Savvy professionals will be prepared to take advantage of new opportunities."

Small Business Contests and Awards to Apply For

Here is the latest list of contests, sweepstakes, and awards for growing companies. This listing is updated every two weeks and brought to you as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.

Marketing Sherpa 2101 Email Marketing Awards
Enter by November 20, 2009

This is the fifth year MarketingSherpa is recognizing Email campaigns that achieved outstanding, measurable results. When you win a MarketingSherpa Email Marketing Award, it means that your Email campaign was the most effective 2009 campaign within its category. MarketingSherpa evaluates the creative, the goals and — most importantly — your results. Details here.

Deluxe Business Makeover Sweepstakes
Enter by November 30, 2009

Deluxe will randomly award a $10,000 gift certificate from Target Commercial Interiors featuring HON furniture and a $5,000 DeluxeBucks gift certificate to use toward logo and Web site design, promotional products and additional marketing and branding solutions. Ten second-place winners will receive $500 DeluxeBucks gift certificates. More information here.

The Great TCBY Store Giveaway

Enter by: November 30, 2009

TCBY (the frozen yogurt stores) is holding a competition to give away a brand new TCBY franchise store for FREE. To enter you must:

• Create a video up to 2 minutes long indicating why you should win a TCBY store.
• Complete the application form and submit it with your video.
• Legal residents of the U.S. who are 21 and older are eligible to participate.

For more information watch the YouTube video. You can find the rules and the application to enter here.

Elance Contest: What Does “The New Way To Work” Mean To You?

Enter by: December 7, 2009

This contest from Elance is a chance for contract professionals to show the world their best stuff and win a grand prize of $10,000. If you’re a writer, write a story that tells how you are a part of the “new way to work”. If you’re a graphic designer, design something. Developer? Create an app. Finalists will be chosen by December 7, 2009. Rules and entry instructions are on the Elance blog.

NYC BigApps Competition

Enter by: 5:00pm EST December 8, 2009

The NYC BigApps Competition will reward the developers of the most useful, inventive, appealing, effective, and commercially viable applications for delivering information from the City of New York’s NYC.gov Data Mine to interested users. Winners will be chosen for best overall application — including a grand prize — as well as an investor’s choice winner, a data visualization winner and city talent winner. In addition, the public will be able to choose their own “popular choice” winners through NYCBigApps.com. All the winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in January and will receive a total of $20,000 in cash prizes plus dinner with Mayor Bloomberg. The competition is open to individuals, start-up companies and nonprofits with fewer than 50 employees.

DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year Award
Enter by December 18, 2009

The DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year Award winner will be presented with a $10,000 cash prize courtesy of Sam’s Club®. Nominate an outstanding business from your community – or start an application for your own business today for the DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year Award.

Nominations are due December 18 and applications are due January 15. Information on eligibility, award criteria, levels of recognition, and the program timeline is listed below and available in a printer friendly format here.

New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition
Enter by December 18, 2009

The New York Public Library (“NYPL”) and the Citigroup Foundation are sponsoring the first annual New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition for New York-based startup entrepreneurs with cash prizes totaling over $28,000. The New York StartUp! Business Plan Competition gives aspiring entrepreneurs an opportunity to compete for the top prize, while learning about the comprehensive small business resources at NYPL’s Science, Industry and Business Library (“SIBL”). StartUP! is a competition for legal residents of Manhattan, The Bronx, or Staten Island who aim to start a business based in one of these three boroughs. Visit New York Public Library here for competition details, dates, and entry requirements.

Regus Win an Office Sweepstakes: One Year of Manhattan Office Space

Enter by: December 31, 2009

Winner receives fully-furnished and equipped workspace at one of Regus’ 18 New York City locations, for 12 months.

Entries will be accepted through December 31st, 2009. There is no purchase necessary to enter. To be eligible for consideration, contestants can fill out an entry form online or at participating Regus locations.

Go here for entry form and to see contest rules.

‘Holiday in a Bag’ Email Marketing Tool Kit and Chance to Win Marketing Consultation Package
Enter by January 5, 2010

As part of the Holiday in a Bag promotion Campaigner is offering a “bag of tools” including holiday email templates and graphics, holiday e-cards, and 100 tips for holiday marketing. They are also offering a drawing for a day of free marketing consultation from Campaigner marketing experts. Sign-up online before January 5, 2010 for the chance to win.

Make Mine a Million $ Business Competition

Enter by: January 15, 2010

The “Make Mine a Million $ Business” competition is for businesses organized and doing business in the United States that are at least 50% owned by a woman, who want to grow the business to $1 Million or more in revenue in the next 12 to 18 months.

All applicants who are selected as Finalists must attend the Make Mine a Million event at their own expense and be willing to participate in the coaching program, related public relations events, and promotions for the Make Mine a Million $ Business program and its sponsors and other partners.

Applications for the Make Mine a Million $ Business program are screened by Count Me In staff and a team of banking and financial professionals selected by Count Me In. Applicants with the highest ratings will be selected as Finalists.

At the event, each Finalist will make a three-minute presentation of their business, their qualifications, and how they would benefit from the Program. This elevator pitch is given in front of a live audience and a panel of qualified judges selected by Count Me In. The judges, with input from the audience vote, will select which of the Finalists should be named as award recipients.

Apply for the Make Mine a Million award here.

Google Free Airport WiFi and Photo Contest

Ends January 15, 2010

When you’re traveling this holiday season, you can enjoy free WiFi at 47 participating airports and on every Virgin America flight. Just bring a WiFi-enabled laptop or mobile device and stay connected to family and friends for free while you travel now through January 15, 2010.

Photo Contest – Win cool prizes

Starting Monday, November 16, 2009, you’ll be able to win prizes by submitting a photo of yourself using the WiFi in any participating airport or on a Virgin America flight. In addition to being able to win great stuff, winning photos will be featured on the website. More information about free airport WiFi here.

PLEASE NOTE: The photo contest is vague at this point. And while this contest is not limited to small businesspeople, we thought it and the free WiFi so valuable to traveling entrepreneurs that we decided to point it out.

Intuit’s Love a Local Business Contest

Enter by March 3, 2010

In a nationwide effort to help support the growth of small businesses, Intuit is hosting the “Love a Local Business” sweepstakes. Fans of local small businesses can nominate their favorite hometown haunt, which will make them eligible for a drawing to win a $1,000 Intuit Growth Grant, which includes a $500 Visa gift card and $500 in Intuit business services, such as Intuit Websites and Web Listings. One of those five winning local businesses will receive a grand prize of $5,000!

In addition, each business that is nominated will appear on a custom Google Map displaying favorite businesses from across the country. The more nominations a business has, the more chances they have to win a grant. Intuit has already awarded $55,000 in small business grants, now it’s time to show support for your favorite neighborhood shop! Go to Love a Local Business for more information.

If you are putting on a small business contest, award or competition, and want to get the word out to the community, please email the details to: contests.smb@gmail.com.

To find other small business awards, contests, competitions and grants, visit our Small Business Events Calendar.

Please note: The descriptions provided here are for convenience only and are NOT the official rules. ALWAYS read official rules carefully at the site holding the competition, contest or award.

Read The Digital Handshake to Get Started in Social Media Marketing

The year 2009 has seen a mini-explosion in books about social media and how to use social media to market a business. Being in a position to review (or publish the review) of many of those books, one thing surprises me: how different each of the books is.

You’d think all the books would be alike. Not so. Each manages to approach their subject from a different angle, and bring something new to the table.

Paul Chaney’s book, The Digital Handshake, is no exception.

The Digital Handshake, published by Wiley, is a book that gives marketers and small business personnel an overview of the many different ways to connect with customers online today. The book gives you the big picture, and also explains the tools and some of the techniques you need to make your online marketing with social media a reality.

The book is divided into 3 parts.

Part I of the book covers the shift from traditional ways of reaching your market (traditional advertising) to today’s forms of new media. It explains what has changed and why. Here’s a part from the book that gave a vivid analogy of this change:

Bourne, Not Bond: Consumers Want Real Experiences and Perspectives, Not Marketing Speak

You recall the days of classic Agent 007 James Bond…. He was suave, debonair, and hardly ever got a scratch. Bond drove expensive cars, wore fabulous clothes, ate at the finest restaurants, and always, always got the girl.

There was a time when advertising was the same. Slick marketing messages conceived on Madison Avenue high-rises delivered mass-marketing style via broadcast and print were consumed and believed by the buying public, no questions asked. *** Not so any longer. We now live in the age of Jason Bourne, not James Bond.

Unlike his counterpart, Bourne gets beaten up, shot at, and otherwise knocked around with great regularity. Rarely does he walk away from a fight unscathed. Neither does he get the girl. *** Bourne’s is a world of gritty, cold reality.

That’s the world advertisers find themselves in as well. Consumers have little trust in marketing messages, and, therefore, advertisers have to work much harder for their attention and, more importantly, their trust.

Part II covers new-media marketing strategies and the tools you’ll need to implement those strategies. It examines business blogging; using social networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook; developing a niche community using tools such as Ning and KickApps; microblogging with Twitter; marketing your business with online video; podcasting; and getting visibility with “social media press releases.” You get just enough to understand the advantages of each and get you thinking about how to use each in your own marketing mix.

Part III covers a 3-step plan of action for using social media in marketing: listen, engage and measure. In this part of the book, Paul explains how to do all 3. In it he includes citations to tools you can use, especially tools for monitoring your online reputation.

Who This Book is For

This is not a book that tells you exactly how to set up a blog, step by step. It’s not a book that comprehensively profiles 50 social media sites and explains how to use each. Nor is it a book that assumes you are already proficient at social media and want advanced techniques or to immerse yourself in the culture of one site (say, Twitter). There’s a place for all such books — but that’s not this book.

The Digital Handshake is for someone who wants to get a crash course in social media and how to use it for marketing. If you are:

(1) fed up because traditional marketing is not working any more, or

(2) frustrated because you see marketing shifting to social media, but don’t understand it well enough yourself yet,

then this book is for you. It will get you to a level of knowledge sufficient to get started with social media marketing.

Why You Should Trust the Author

I’ve known Paul Chaney for 5 years through online connections. Like many of my online connections, we’ve never had the pleasure of meeting in person. But I’ve collaborated with Paul on a few projects. And over those five years I have followed his body of work. So you could say we’ve had a “digital handshake.” I have a pretty good feel for his knowledge.

Paul is someone steeped in this “new media” world. He’s not someone who discovered blogs last year, with a mere 20 or 30 blog posts under his belt, who has the chutzpah to call himself a “social media expert” despite limited practical knowledge (unfortunately, lots of those out there!). Paul really is an expert, especially in the realm of social media from a small business perspective.

So I had no hesitation reviewing Paul’s manuscript prior to publishing, and recommending the book for a blurb on the cover, and recommending it to you now.

With The Digital Handshake you’ll get solid guidance about how to market your business in today’s changed online landscape. Find out more about The Digital Handshake.

Franchise Owners Could Be Getting Some Love In 2010

As this year starts to wind down, small business owners and executives are working on their sales goals and projections for next year. In my industry, franchising, executives are undoubtedly looking at how the credit crunch will affect their new franchise sales.

The unemployment picture is not exactly a masterpiece here in the U.S. There’s even talk of layoffs on the State government level next year as local tax revenues continue to decrease. Payroll tax collections are the lowest since 1963, according to the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government.

Interest in small business ownership increases during recessions, and the longer one is unemployed, the more open one becomes to looking at “other options.” Franchise ownership is one such option, and most franchisors are experiencing a steady number of inquiries from prospective franchise owners.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, the one thing that’s preventing prospective franchise owners from realizing their business ownership dreams, as of this writing, is the credit crunch. The major lenders are not opening their bank’s vaults to a lot of business start-ups, including new franchise openings. During a recent interview with a writer from the Fox Business News Small Business Center, I shared details of a phone call I had with a commercial loan representative of a major bank, who told me that “they were not really interested in looking at business start-ups,” which absolutely floored me. I’m still thinking about that really bizarre phone conversation with the bank representative.

Let’s assume for a moment that the credit crunch will last a bit longer. If it does, could it actually be good news for current franchisees of the 850,000 or so operating franchises in the US. Good news?

Franchisors still need revenue. If they cannot rely on up-front franchise fees from new franchise owners for part of it, then they will have to find ways to increase their royalty revenues. (Royalties are where the rubber meets the road, and the way to riches for franchisors, more so than up-front fees.) The way to do that is to help their franchisees make more money, which means that more royalty dollars will be coming in to the franchise company.

Because the credit crunch will be affecting new franchise unit sales, existing franchise owners could start getting some real personal service. They may start to see more in-person visits by field reps and franchise executives. These visits help franchisors get a street-level view of their franchisees operations, and look for ways to — you guessed it — increase revenues. Franchisees should expect to see some new initiatives designed to do just that. If they have a storefront operation, they’ll will see traffic building activities such as:

• Direct mail coupon campaigns
• In-store contests and events
• An increased use of mobile marketing

If you are a home-based or small office franchisee, expect to see some creative ideas from your franchisor, designed to help your business grow. Things like:

• New telemarketing campaigns to prospective customers/clients
• Technology upgrades designed to make it easier for you and your customers/clients to do business with you
• Localsearch marketing assistance

James Young, the president of Spring-Green Lawn Care, shared with me what he’s doing to ramp up things for his franchisees, noting:

• We have built and rolled out in 6 months time a centralized data structure and built a front end proprietary platform to identify the best prospects in a market utilizing demographic profiling.
• We have expanded our budget for both our national inbound and outbound call centers
• We have been further investing in building out our franchisee web pages with LOCAL content to improve local SEO performance.
• We have increased our budget for paid search marketing to drive additional leads this spring.
• We formed a strategic alliance with the Arbor Day Foundation

This may also be a good time for franchisees to introduce some their own ideas that have brewing for awhile. Franchise executives may be a little more willing to listen to new product and service ideas now, because they have more time to do so, and are experiencing some pain.

The business start-up credit crunch could be just what some franchisors need … some time to look at their businesses from a different perspective, e.g., the franchisees’ perspective.

If you currently are a franchisee, take advantage of the extra support you’ll be getting. Throw some new ideas out there. Your franchisor could be all ears.

Guess Who’s Creating the Most U.S. Jobs. It’s Likely Not Who You Think.

The recession may be “over,” but the latest employment stats from the Department of Labor are far from encouraging. As America seeks to create new jobs, where should the focus of government assistance be? While most of the attention has focused on bigger firms, a new study from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation suggests this is misplaced.

Younger companies not only create more net new jobs than their more established counterparts, they also create a higher average number of jobs per firm, according to Where Will the Jobs Come From? Based on an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, the study showed that companies less than 5 years old created nearly two-thirds of net new jobs in 2007.

“Within this group of companies, moreover, there is a substantial set of rapidly growing businesses that account for a disproportionate share of net job creation,” said Dane Stangler, senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation and co-author of the study.

Most studies of job creation focus on company size rather than age. Where Will the Jobs Come From? was based on new data, a Special Tabulation conducted by the Census Bureau at the request of the Kauffman Foundation, calculated from the 2009 Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS). The BDS includes measures of business startups, establishment openings and closings, and establishment expansions and contractions in both the number of establishments and the number of jobs.

“This study sends an important message to policymakers,” said Robert Litan, vice president of Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation and one of the study’s authors. “Sometimes a single barrier, such as limited access to credit for business growth, can mean the difference between survival and failure. We must create an environment that aids firm formation and growth if we are going to turn employment around.”

Litan and Stangler think President Obama’s recent announcement of larger SBA loan guarantees and lower-cost credit for community banks is a good first step, but they also suggest more drastic moves such as a payroll tax holiday for new and young businesses.

“Job creation is the number one issue facing families and policymakers during this economic recession, and this study shows that new businesses and entrepreneurs are the key factor in adding new jobs,” said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. “If the U.S. economy is going to have a sustained recovery, it will be up to entrepreneurs to lead the way.”

While this may be surprising to some, I’ve instinctively known this for years. Startup businesses need more support. Here’s hoping the new numbers help convince business marketers and the policymakers in Washington.

How Technology Will Make the Biggest Impact on Health Care Reform

Would you like to ask a question of George Halvorson, the CEO of Kaiser Permanente, about health care reform and technology?

Please join me this Wednesday, November 18, 2009, from 2:30 – 3:30 pm New York time. I’ll be live-tweeting a webcast with him.

You have a special opportunity to submit questions to him.

To ask a question, please include it in a comment below. Or if you prefer, tweet it to me @smallbiztrends. I will make sure your questions get passed along to him. I can’t guarantee he’ll have time to answer all questions, but I will definitely pass them along.

Here are some questions that have already been floated by members of the Small Business Trends community:

1) Does there really have to be so much paperwork involved with health care? Will we ever get to a system like some countries where it is paperless and takes a doctor or hospital just a few clicks to submit a claim?

2) Will things get better under the health care proposals being floated in Congress right now, or will the proposals increase bureaucracy, paperwork and costs?

3) Technology sounds great — but how exactly will technology make a difference in health care to the average person?

4) How will technology in health care impact those small businesses in the health care industry? What about those not in the health care industry?

5) Will technology make health care better? Or just more impersonal?

I’m sure you can think of other great questions. Here are the event details:

What: “How Technology Will Make the Biggest Impact on Health Care Reform” with George Halvorson, the CEO of Kaiser Permanente

Checklist for Trademark and Copyright Issues on Your Website

The following is a checklist of issues and questions for protecting your online presence for your business, from the standpoint of trademarks and copyrights. We will be updating this as our tweetchat event (#smbchat) progresses.

Introductory reading

• Basic intellectual property terminology — the difference between copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property
• Introduction to trademarks
• Introduction to copyrights

WEBSITES AND CONTENT ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

• All content (text, images and other forms) is protected from the time of creation
• Registration is a good idea
• What to do if someone copies your stuff
• What is it really worth?
• What if they just gave you credit?
• Cease & desist letters, lawsuits, settlements, results
• Fees and costs

What to do you if you want to copy someone else’s stuff?

• Can’t you just link to it?
• Is it in the public domain?
• What is fair use?
• What is not…

137 Small Business Twitter Tips

In May of 2009 we asked you, our loyal readers, to give us your best Twitter tips.

Over the course of several weeks, we accepted your tips via email, Twitter and in comments to the original post. We asked readers to simply answer one of the following 6 questions:

• Getting Started: How would you suggest other small businesses get started on Twitter?
• Smart Marketing: What’s the right way (or wrong way) to promote your business on Twitter?
• Observing Etiquette: What is your #1 Twitter etiquette tip for small business owners?
• Spreading Your Message: What is your best tip for getting re-tweeted?
• Time Management: How do you manage your time on Twitter?
• Advanced Strategies: What is your best kept secret (something not widely known) for using Twitter in business?

To all of the Small Business Trends readers, thank you very much…

Best Green Business Tip Contest

A huge trend today is going green in your business. “Going green” sounds weighty – but it’s not really. It can be very simple stuff that brings BIG benefits — everything from making double-sided photocopies so you save paper, to swapping out incandescent light bulbs for more efficient fluorescent bulbs. Not only are you doing something worthwhile for our environment, but you can save money.

So, to encourage others to “go green” in their small businesses, I’m collecting tips for going green. I will publish the best ones in a “Top 100 Tips for Going Green in Your Business” roundup.

And since YOU always have the best ideas, I’m asking your help.

Please share a tip about how YOU are going green in your business, or how others…

T op Small Business Marketing Trends for 2009

will see the social elements of marketing accelerate. Social media went from being on the cutting edge, to approaching the mainstream. When I say “social” I mean marketing driven by word-of-mouth relationships.

As you go through each of the following small business marketing trends, you’ll see how powerful the social component is for getting and keeping your ideal customer. Just remember, your customers control your brand, so act accordingly.

1. AUTHENTICITY– In 2009, the focus is on “authenticity” and letting the real people behind your company be visible and show through — no more hiding behind a faceless website filled with the word “We.” Instead, it’s “I.” Consumers and B2B buyers expect to know who they are dealing with before hiring your company.

In the event of a problem with your products, consumers want a real person to reach out to, whether it’s AngelaAtHP or ComcastCares on Twitter, or the Web designer you want to hire who actively participates in Facebook and Plurk. Business people are connecting one-to-one through social media sites and this activity will continue.

How to take advantage of this trend:

• Set up a social media presence in your real name on sites like Twitter.com, and interact with customers and prospects, mixing in personal information as well as business information. Examples: @ShaneGoldberg (Shane Goldberg, founder of Extreme Member), @TimBerry (Tim Berry, President of Palo Alto Software), and @pixily (Prasad Thammineni, CEO of Pixily).
• Set up profiles and groups on Facebook and start recruiting customers to join.
• Create at least one blog to keep customers educated either about your industry or your products and services.

2. DO IT YOURSELF MARKETING – A study by the Yellow Pages Association of America found that more than half of all small businesses say that getting and keeping customers is a challenge, yet nearly two-thirds say they will NOT get any outside help in marketing. The costs of traditional advertising is going up with newspaper ad rates growing 18%, while the effectiveness of traditional marketing is coming down with newspaper readership coming down. In 1992 it took three touches to reach your buyer — and today it takes more than eight!

How to take advantage of this trend:

• Do some market research. Use free online survey tools like SurveyMonkey or QuestionPro to find out what’s really important to your customers.
• Invest in direct marketing. Take the time to build your customer lists and start sending direct messages to your customers whenever possible. Use the information you learned from your surveys to target your message. If you can’t afford direct snail mail, then do email marketing, which is cheaper.
• Post videos and slide shows on your web site and/or blog. Video a demonstration or collect testimonials from customers. Google likes video content, increasing your chances of being found online. By posting slide shows on your site and on SlideShare, you can reach two audiences – those on social sites like Slideshare and those that come to your site directly. And you make your existing presentations and documents do double duty by posting them online.

3. TECH-DRIVEN WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING – 68% of your customers will leave you because they don’t see the difference between you and the other guy. This is why word-of-mouth-marketing will become even more popular in 2009. Loyal customers tell their friends and family WHY to choose you. With so much advertising around us. small businesses will have to penetrate deep “firewalls” of resistance to get to their ideal customers.

How to take advantage of this trend:

• Put a forum section on your web site and run ongoing Q&As with your customers. This will give you the REAL reasons that they choose you.
• Start a referral or affiliate program. It’s as simple as approaching those businesses who serve your customers BEFORE they get to you. A good example is car dealers can refer insurance agents. Clothing retailers can recommend dry cleaners. Look ahead of you in the supply chain and behind you in the supply chain and start referring and collecting referrals.
• Measure your Net Promoter Score. Fred Reicheld wrote a book called “The Ultimate Question” that discovered that this single greatest predictor of profitability was the answer to the question “How likely are you to refer [this company] to friends and family?”

4. ECO AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY – “Green” has gone mainstream. It’s not just a trendy thing to say anymore. In 2009, letting your customers know that your product or service is eco-and socially responsible is literally a feature you want to communicate. A BBDO (Ad Agency) study recently showed that younger consumers made purchasing decisions based on how what “difference you made in the world.” Whether you’re into this trend or not — many consumers have put this on their criteria list.

How to take advantage of this trend:

• Promote whatever community programs or ecologically friendly projects or practices that you have. Don’t think that any effort at environmental-friendly activity is too small. If you are replacing all your light bulbs in your offices to the new fluorescent — then say so. If you are recycling paper — say so.
• If you’re a local business that does business locally — show your customers how you re-cycle and grow the money they spend with you back into the community.

5. BOOTSTRAPPING AND SIMPLICITY – We’ve been moving away from excess for a few years now. But in 2009, being resourceful and bootstrapping is officially cool. This year brings a terrific opportunity to cut out products and services that have little value. Simplifying your offerings gives you the opportunity to differentiate yourself and maintain (if not increase) your price points for products or services that you do best.

How to take advantage of this trend:

• Run a report of your products and services sold to each customer and check out the margins. Highlight the low-margin offerings and see if you can move your customers to a more profitable alternative.
• Look at your bills and statements and ask yourself the question ‘In what ways does this expense get and keep my ideal customers?’ If you don’t come up with a good answer — it may be time to cut that expense out.

6. MARKETING TO THE “BUY BUTTON” – Neuromarketing is the study of how our brains respond to messages. Neuromarketing is becoming the standard baseline for copywriting and advertising. Learning how your customers’ “buy button” works will save you time effort and money.

How to take advantage of this trend:

• Read the books Buyology and Neuromarketing to understand exactly how your brain is influenced to choose one product over another.
• Find ways to attach positive emotions to your product or service.
• Show your customer that you trust THEM by making a trial period available or quickly approving credit.

7. PAID MEMBERSHIPS — Membership sites are a new trend that make the Internet a terrific money-making opportunity for all kinds of entrepreneurs. Combine the trend of creating a niche, and a membership site, and you will have yourself a winning formula in 2009.

Offering memberships is not restricted to the Internet alone. Restaurants have used memberships successfully to even out cash flow and consistently bring in customers. Financial service providers have used memberships to educate their clients and provide special events and services.

How to take advantage of this trend:

• Think of ways to offer a regular benefit to members: product or service of the month, research, e-books, designs and templates. If you have a niche, you have the makings of a membership opportunity.
• Can you call your customers members? What could you offer them on a regular basis as a benefit of membership?
• Some examples of membership sites: Artella Words and Art, Artistic Thread Works, The Biz Web Coach.

8. MOBILITY — Accessing the Internet via mobile device or smart phone is a given. The sites that are mobile friendly will be the sites of choice for consumers looking for information on the go. Another common occurrence is receiving updates on your order or any information that you request via text message.

How to take advantage of this trend:

• Check out these services for sending text messages to customers from the Web: ClearSMS.com, Group2Call.com
• Talk to your technical expert to see what it would take to convert your web site or blog to be viewed easily on the web.

9. WISDOM OF CROWDS — Your customers will want more say in how you improve your product or service. Internet tools like UserVoice, Get Satisfaction and IdeaScale will gain more popularity in 2009 and will be common platforms for gathering customer feedback and ideas on product improvements. Using these feedback tools helps to build customer community and loyalty.

How to take advantage of this trend:

• Sign up for a free version of UserVoice, GetSatisfaction or IdeaScale and put a Feedback widget on your web site or blog. Tell your customers to contribute ideas.
• Be sure to monitor (or have your employees monitor) the feedback on such sites and participate in it. Then as you implement suggestions – communicate that to your customers.

10. PERSONAL BRANDING– Personal Branding will become more important than a killer resume or bio. Your personal brand is your public identity. It’s what you are known for within and outside your network. It has never been more important to differentiate yourself and focus on what sets you apart from the crowd.

Good personal brands give people an immediate sense of knowing you and the experience your business offers. What do these names conjure up for you? Donald Trump, Oprah, Richard Branson? Each of these individuals have focused on a defining idea or element of who they are that is immediately recognizable. For example “You’re Fired” would not be Oprah and “Live your best life” would not be Donald Trump

How to take advantage of this trend:

• Make sure you are using a photo on the web. It doesn’t need to be professional, in fact, a candid and authentically-you shot is best. Use the same pictures everywhere until your brand is established. @GuyKawasaki has his standard picture – but he also changes it around now and then. @JenniferLaycock from SearchEngine Guide uses her company’s puppy logo as her brand.
• Register your name as your domain name. Also register extensions of your name on popular social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Slideshare, and others. This serves a defensive purpose, too, as it prevent squatters from profiting off of your personal brand.

SPECIAL ARTICLE FOR BLOG

Traffic To Your Blog

Of course, you know that blogging is a great way to make money these days. And every article on how to make a blog make money says traffic is what does it all. So what is traffic? Before you sign up for any blog service, know what you’re targeting.

When people talk about traffic, they often don’t know the line between mere hits and visits that actually do the blog good. Hits will only mean the number of times that a user seeks information on a site. It could be a request for an image, a video or text and the person can actually keep making that request and each time, it will be counted as a hit. Now you know why hits just aren’t reliable indicators of blog performance.

In other words, when you consider traffic, you have to take into account what your readers actually do while visiting your blog. Then you can work from there. For example, what is the average amount of time they spend on your blog? That is a much better sign of how things are actually going. When your reader clicks away in a matter of seconds, there is definitely a problem in there. Look into the actual page they usually exit from and examine what could need a fixing.

Maybe your design is too loud or maybe your page or pages appear unorganized. Maybe you’ve been using inappropriate keywords and driving the wrong people to your page. Remember that keywords are always crucial when you want traffic. In fact, looking closely into them allows you to look into what your readers actually want from you and what drives them. If you suspect that you might be having problems around this part, you certainly have to look closer and pinpoint what’s wrong. Otherwise, you could be pouring your efforts down the drain.

You can also look into which of your posts have gotten the most visits and comments. From there, you would know what approaches to your topics work best and you can try to use them more often for your future posts. For example, if you noticed that you did very well on posts where you added a lot of pictures, take that cue. Make it a point to have pictures on each of your posts. Just make sure these images are appropriate for the topic or they could easily backfire on you.

There are other behavior patterns you can observe while studying your traffic. However, they will all work to highlight the good things you’ve been doing so you can reinforce them and the bad so you could change or improve them. When you blog to express yourself, you?re obviously not obligated to anyone but you. But when you’re blogging to make money, you actually owe your readers your full commitment. After all, how can you expect to make money with blog posts that are inconsistent? Your readers need to know that you’ll always be there or they just won’t find the point in following you.

ARTICLES

Why Sending

Fresh Meat

Products Across

Country In Good

Condition Is Important

To make sure that food of all kinds is available all over the country, from state to state and beyond, many companies have come with the idea of producing specialized cartons to transport the foodstuff in a safe and secure manner. Corrugated boxes are made up specifically for food packaging to make sure that no cross contamination will interfere with other products being shipped at the same time.

Making Money Online: Internet Marketing

As an online marketer myself, I am constantly coming across two very common misconceptions when it comes to making money online.

Frbiz.com Reports China Prudent Over

Tapping Combustible Ice

China will put environmental concerns as top priority in tackling ways to exploit combustible ice, a kind of natural gas hydrate, in the permanent tundra in its northwest plateau region, said a combustible ice project leader.

Plastering As A Career: Critical Aspects

And Considerations

Plastering is an ideal career for individuals who have the keen interest and passion for manual trade while working with a team both indoors and outdoors. Plasterers can go solo or be part of a working gang, and the major part of the job will involve plastering floors, partitions and ceilings.

Sustainable Palm Oil Farmers Earn

$2.1M Through GreenPalm

The GreenPalm certificate trading scheme, which supports sustainable methods in palm oil production, has hit a major target.

Everyone Should Know Some Things

About Search Engines And Crawlers

One of the things that a search engine algorithm scans for is the frequency and location of keywords on a web page, but it can also detect artificial keyword stuffing or spamdexing. Then the algorithms analyze the way that pages link to other pages in the Web.

A Review of Legit Online Jobs

In these days of global crisis, many people are searching in the net for work, to replace or to add their income. The problem is that a very large offer of net jobs consists of online business sysstem scams.

Frbiz.com reports Wafangdian Bearing

Industry Association Held 1st General

Assembly

In September 25, 2009, the 1st General Assembly of Wafangdian Bearing Industry Association, Liaoning Province was held in Wafangdian city. 120 representatives attended the meeting, including Wang Quanqing, Secretary-general of China Bearing Industry Association; Liu Yinghua, Chairperson of Wafangdian Municipal Committee of CPPCC; Wang Delong, Executive Deputy Secretary of Municipal Party Committee; Liu Junbo, Associate Director of Municipal People’s Congress; Zheng Bin, Vice Mayor of Wafangdian City; Li Shoubin, Vice Chaimanperson of Machinery Industry Association of Dalian City; Wang Lushun, Board Chairman of Wafangdian Bearing Group and board chairmen and general managers from other 93 affiliated organizations as well as officials from various government departments.

Why Network Marketing

For me it was easy. I retired and now I can jump out of the sack and be in my office in seconds. In my PJ’s. You won’t need an office and that eliminates the pain of looking for one. No employees. If you need help cal or email your sponsor. He/she will be very willing to help you and the help is free. Their success depends on your success. Isn’t that neat? No more fighting commuter traffic and building all that stress up. we all know the damage that stress can do to the body. Most ailments today are caused by stress. The sense of accomplishment that you get from succeeding on your is priceless.

Current Trends In The Job Market And What That Means For Your CV

We all know that the employment market is getting more difficult at the moment. Rising unemployment across the globe in this global recession means that jobs are scarcer than they were before. The public sector is one area where jobs are not being cut, mainly because governments are increasing spending on public projects to keep people in employment

More competition means that you need to be better. The fittest or best CVs and applications will be the ones that get looked at. There really is no excuse, your CV is a selling document and it needs to do the job of selling you in the best way possible. The first couple of sentences in that CV are so vital that it would be worth your while getting someone to do it for you, even if you ended up doing the rest of the CV yourself

Professional CV writers make their living by getting people interviews. There are times in your life when you will need professional advice and you would do well to take that advice if it comes from a qualified source. If you have a medical problem for example, it will help if you will go to and then take the advice of a suitably qualified medical professional. CV writers make their living by ensuring that the very best employment advice is given to their customers

Filling in an application form for a job in the public sector can seem like a tedious task. The truth is that everyone has to do it and you will not be an exception. Follow all the instructions for completing the form to the letter. If you make a mistake, get another form and make sure that you don’t make that same mistake again. If you fail to follow the simple instructions given, your application will go no further- you have just shown that you are unable to carry out simple administrative tasks so your application will be rejected at that point

Some people refuse to pay for anything that they feel that they don’t need to pay for. Scrimping on your CV is a sure way to make sure that you don’t even get the chance to impress an employer with your skills and experience. The relatively small cost of employing a CV writer will be more than paid for if they do their job for you. Many people have ended up earning significantly more money simply by getting a professional CV written that gets doors opened for them that they never thought that they would be able to walk though

About the author: Mr. Hughes is a professional CV writer operating a CV writing business based in the UK. With over 1200 successful CVs written, CV That Works is ideally situated to help you get the interview that you need Don’t reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.

TOP JOB TRENDS

Tips | By: Administrator

Many of you might think that handshakes are outdated. Think again. This simple gesture is still valued in the professional setting. This also includes job interviews. A handshake alone can state a lot about a person.

For example, someone with a weak handshake can be taken as one who lacks confidence. On the other hand (pun intended), a strong handshake can say that you pose as a threat. The key is to make your grip firm and brief. Smile. But don�t make it a teeth-baring grin. Most importantly, don�t forget eye contact. Just don�t make it too intense or you�ll come off as intimidating. Just do everything in moderation and you�ll be fine.

Why Career Research is Important

Careers | By: Administrator

Career research is one way of exploring the different career prospects in the world today. The more research a person does, the more likely a career path could be distinguished. The Internet is one of the best places to do a career search, what with the tons of knowledge and information that can be found on the web.

Career research is important because it helps a lot in identifying the kind of career you want to pursue, particularly if you are still undecided or clueless about your future. Developing a career plan, taking career assessment tests, getting advice from a career counselor and joining a network are some of the steps involved in career research.

Comments: -

American Institute of Physics: physicists for hire.

15 August, 2009 By: Administrator

by: Christine Zafra

The faculty of the American Institute of Physics’ trend in their faculty workforce has been music to the ears of those who wish to look for jobs in the said institution. Ever since 1998, a lot of veteran teachers leave due to retirement but were quickly replace by the new and fresh physicists. It was said that 2000 was the height of retirements; however, the institution countered that trend. What they did was they doubled the number of the people whom they hired, thus, balancing it.

Since 2000, the number of retirees has declined, but the American Institute of Physics did not change their hiring rate.

Comments: -

Career Tip: Distance Education

Careers, Tips | By: Administrator

If you are a professional who is interested in learning through distance education, one should ask the question, “Am I Ready to Learn Through Distance Education?” Distance education has been around for a couple of years already which is very beneficial to those who wish to finish a degree or course but cannot be physically present in a normal school set-up.

So if you really want to pursue learning the distance education way, you should check out this quiz that will tell how good a candidate are you for succeeding in distance-delivered courses. This would tell if distance education is right for you.

Image source: continue.utah.edu

Comments: -

Better aggregate, better chances.

By: Administrator

Christine Zafra

For those of you who are in search of a job, don’t settle for those small time job aggregates. The jobs that they offer are only limited.

Why not try recruit.net? This website (not really a website in that sense, but a blog), offers a different kind of service. The person can search for other job offerings using keywords and locations. He or she can enter a country in the search location box or maybe, be specific and search a job opening near/within his or her hometown.

Now, what really sets this website apart from the others? Aside from the fact that you could search with keywords and locations (not the typical drop down box wherein you’re constrained to those locations), the website also has the capability to search through the official websites of companies not enlisted, job boards, forums, agencies, newspapers and the like.

Comments: -

Handling rejection

Tips | By: Administrator

It�s very difficult to find work these days. Despite all your efforts in clinching that position, you still find yourself rejected. You realize that jobs are pretty elusive. You have to understand that with so many applicants vying for one position, there is a very high possibility of someone being more qualified that you are.

Don�t be sad, if you receive a message of rejection. Here are some tips to help you dust off and try again.

Suppress that defeatist attitude. Think outside the box and keep your eyes open for other opportunities. Review those that you rejected and reconsider. Review your resume and your application letters. You might have missed something important or you may have to revise some parts. Better yet, ask a friend to review your resume for you. Ask for his or her opinion.

Tags: rejection
Comments: -

NSF monitors career development of physicists.

By: Administrator

The National Science Foundation or the NSF is a government agency of the United States that promotes the welfare of science and engineering. This agency does research projects for the betterment of science, hoping to contribute to the database of scientific facts and pieces of information.

To maintain the quality of programs and career developments in their agency, they hold a biennial survey of those who have doctorate degrees. The survey is more of a random sampling: they survey physicists from all age groups who have doctorate degrees in science, engineering, health etc., all from American Universities. This survey acts as monitoring tool in which they could asses the current status of their development as an agency.

How Sustainable is Microfinance, Really?

Lately, I’ve noticed several versions of the statement, “Although much is made of MFIs becoming subsidy independent, few of them have reached this goal.” I find it pretty hard to square such statements with the evidence.

Among roughly 1300 MFIs reporting to the MIX for 2006, about 565 showed a positive return on assets. Let’s assume that some of these aren’t really sustainable, either because their results are incorrectly reported or because adequate adjustments weren’t made for subsidies they received. That still leaves hundreds of sustainable MFIs.Lots of MFIs are now drawing billions (really!) in investment from microfinance investment funds that are dominated, not by development agencies, but by investors who are not willing to accept anything below a fully commercial risk-return profile. (This is based on studies by Xavier Reille and his associates. Most of the investors who identify themselves as “socially responsible” in fact do no more than apply a negative screen, and will accept returns no lower, and risks no higher, than any other commercial investor). Anyone who wants to say that very few MFIs are sustainable will have a hard time explaining the behavior of these investors.

Furthermore… if the question is “how sustainable is the microfinance industry,” we shouldn’t treat a tiny MFI with 2,000 customers the same as we would a huge one with 2,000,000. On average, sustainable MFIs are much larger than the unsustainable ones. To get a meaningful picture, we have to weight by number of borrowers or portfolio size. For instance, if we want to look at the state of the shoe industry worldwide, it would make no sense to give each of the hundreds of tiny boutique companies the same weight as Nike or Adidas.

Government MFIs tend to be unsustainable, and will continue to be so, because with a few large exceptions (e.g. BRI) they are not trying to be sustainable. Thus, if we want to test whether sustainability is an empty promise or not, we need to look mainly at the private MFIs, and weight the results. Taking the adjusted results from the MIX databases, Adrian Gonzalez has found that the strong majority of borrowers from private MFI are served by sustainable instutions today. Even if we mentally discount that result for any plausible level of over-optimistic reporting, it’s still clear that a very large chunk of the industry is already sustainable.

Taking another cut on the MIX data, the median (weighted) return on equity for all reporting MFIs ins 2006 was 13 percent.

MFIs that have transformed into for-profit companies are not the only ones that are profitable. In fact, Gonzalez found that on average not-for-profit MFIs had higher profits in 2006 than for-profit MFIs. This result may be due to the fact that MOST not-for-profit MFIs don’t pay taxes, and tend to operate in less competitive markets.

In my view, the proposition that microfinance can be a perfectly viable business in most settings has been demonstrated very compellingly by now. All it takes is competent management with a commitment to financial sustainability. I just wish some of the other propositions that guide my life were so thoroughly and clearly demonstrated!

Disclosure: Is it really necessary?

Consumer protection, financial literacy, and better disclosure are all topics much talked about now. Some argue that the world would not be in the present financial crisis if only people knew how much lenders were really charging them. If only people understood what compounded interest rate meant; or if regulators checked what lenders were selling to their customers. But would it really make a difference? Should we be enhancing disclosure requirements, ramping up supervision, and funding financial literacy programs now?

I’ve heard the same thing from lenders in Azerbaijan, Peru, and Kenya: it wouldn’t make any difference if people knew what they are getting into. My counterparts seem convinced that people only learn the hard way. Only after they get hit by penalties and fines and face a debt collector will people become more cautious about borrowing, they say.

Imposing disclosure requirements is viewed as a needless burden: extra text to be printed in the documents that no one bothers to read anyway. In support of this view, lenders in emerging markets would point to the U.S. as an example – all the loan details were written in plain English in loan contracts – and did that make any difference? It does not seem like it.

Obviously disclosure will not solve all of our problems and prevent future crises. But those pointing to its ineffectiveness, especially coming from countries with no disclosure requirements at all, are wrong. Naturally, lenders will continue to try to make terms less clear and hide charges. Of course every individual on the planet will not educate him or herself about all the intricacies of finance. But regulation leveling the playing field and requiring lenders to tell borrowers in clear language the truth about costs and terms is a must. So is making it clear that it’s an individual’s responsibility to protect his or her financial interest – not the lender’s (contrary to what financial industry advertisements say).

Disclosure is essential for sustainable credit growth. As the graph shows (from “Banking the Poor”), countries with more comprehensive disclosure requirements tend to have easier access to finance.